Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Give Yourself Some Credit

I've been thinking lately what a terrible job i've been doing of winning people to Christ. Then the Lord started speaking to my heart.

(Disclaimer: This is not a blog to give you an "out" so that you never have to win people. This is just something that was spoken to my heart :)

I realized that maybe we should begin to give credit to the conversations in our life ...

Like last week where the guy outside Applebee's asked me where I was from. When I said Pensacola, he asked if I was military. I got the oppurtunity to say "No, my husband and I moved here to be youth pastors at a church right down the road".

Or the cashier at Wal-Mart who saw the craft supplies she was ringing up and asked if I was a teacher. I got the chance to explain to her that my husband & I are youth pastors. And that I was buying all the "blue" stuff because we were taking a bunch of students to camp, and blue was our team color. She thought that was awesome.

Or the times we go out for girls night ... and the waiters can't understand why we don't have to drink to have a good time. They're astounded to see a group of young women laughing, joking and having fun ... sans alcohol. Not everyone asks, but occasionally we get the chance to explain. Sometimes we get to plant a seed without saying anything at all.

Today we were out tubing at Bonita Bay. I couldn't help but remember the lady a few years ago who was out at Bonita Bay with her young daughter. My Autumn started playing with her. Then the lady came over and after she saw we were all nice people, she started opening up to us. She got info on our church. She rode the tube with us. You know, we never saw her or her daughter again ... but I can't help but thinking that through that conversation we made a small difference.

These things get me to thinking. You never know what "small" difference your "small" conversations mean in a persons life. You may not be winning a soul to Christ, but sometimes you're simply laying the foundation, or watering a seed someones already planted. And sometimes you are the one who gets to see that person won to Christ.

There's a perfect order to everything. So, the next time you talk with the checkout lady about church, or smile at the drive thru lady after she's been chewed out by her boss, or chat with the chic-fil-a guy about how he "recognizes you from somewhere" .... know that these conversations are making big differences. We need to step out and be more inviting of these convserations.

Who knows, maybe your conversation might one day lead to a conversion. But for now, start creditting yourself for the things you are doing .... Jesus was a great conversationalist!